“I’ve always wanted to be a drummer who people recognize for being good.”
Luke Holland has drumming in his blood, with his dad (Douglas) being a professional drummer. But hearing banging from his neighbour’s house at the age of 10 is what first drew him to drumming.
“A guy named Frank lived next door to me, and would always play with his garage door open. One day I came over, and he taught me a simple beat, and I went and worked for the next year around my neighborhood to raise money for my first kit.”
Even from that young age, Luke demonstrated how he’s nothing if not determined and focused, and had an “I can do it” energy to him, disinterested in obstacles along the way, or anyone suggesting that what he wanted was impossible. Though he played snare in marching band at 14 and 15 years old, he’s never had lessons at a drum kit, his determination and “I can do it BETTER” pushing him onward.
From 15 years old, Luke created the YouTube channel, LukeHollandDrums, and began to upload covers of drums from songs he enjoyed. He credits the power of YouTube for getting him where he is today. When talking about his start on YouTube, Luke shared that his ‘arrogance’ as a teenager was a driving factor, after watching other drum covers of Texas In July.
“I saw these people doing covers of songs, and all the comments were super positive; ‘Oh man, this is so awesome!’. Me, being arrogant at the time, I said ‘I’m gonna do this better. I’m gonna do it WAY better.’
I was super driven, man. I hit my friend up. He stood on a stool in the corner of the room, filmed me playing. All my cymbals are broken, I had a horrible kit at the time. I didn’t even care if I got ten views, I just wanted to send it to those drummers that were covering it.. and accidentally got some views.”
Luke must have done something right, because at 16 he went on to fill in as drummer for Texas In July when their drummer Adam Gray wasn’t available.
Luke continued to make drum covers and his YouTube channel grew exponentially, with the support of YouTuber Josh Chomik, aka Thecomputernerd01. Luke’s channel currently sitting at 349,087 subscribers and 57,209,207 views.
At the age of 18, Luke caught the attention of Telle Smith of The Word Alive, again due to his YouTube drum covers. Telle made contact with Luke and invited him to join the band.
Luke was soon touring with The Word Alive, and played with the band until 2016. He drummed on The Word Alive albums REAL. in 2014, and Dark Matter in 2016, both via Fearless Records.
In the meantime, the YouTube covers kept coming, and Luke showcased his varied tastes in music, beyond heavy music; creating new drum tracks for songs that didn’t already have them, or creating remixes of existing drum tracks.
The incredible drum remix of the Skrillex song “Cinema”, currently the most popular video on Luke’s YouTube channel, was the video that caught Telle Smith’s eye when it was all over his social media feed.
Luke also remixed drums on the Ellie Goulding song “Bittersweet”, having also shared that Ellie Goulding is an artist that he’d love to drum for.
By way of song choice, Luke has been firm in the fact that he chooses songs that have some meaning for him personally, or stick with him due to their musical complexity, rather than just by request. In an interview with Forbes, he shared:
“Almost every single video I’ve created has been a song that I was attached to at the time. I’m a firm believer that if I’m passionate about the song I’m playing to, it will show in my playing & my approach to the kit.”
YouTube aside, Luke has also contributed his drumming prowess to songs and albums by: Jason Richardson (I album), I See Stars (Treehouse album), and Miss Fortune (“Die For You”). Not being aware that Luke drummed on these at first, we had admired the drumming on both Treehouse and “Die For You”, due to its stand-out exceptional sound. We should have known that the songs had had the Luke Holland touch.
Luke also covered the Chainsmokers song “Closer” together with Aaron Richards, releasing the cover on Spotify and iTunes.
In 2017, Luke has already shared that he is touring with Jason Richardson in March, playing songs from I, and is hinting at MANY other things he has lined up this year.
Luke Holland is one of those musicians that we watch with heightened curiosity and fascination, to see what he does next. It’s clear to see that he is consistently raising the bar for himself, never becoming complacent in where he’s at with his music, and continuing to aim higher.
You can find Luke on
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LukeHolland
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HollandDrums
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/LukeHollandDrums
